The Swan King: Ludwig II of Bavaria

The Swan King is the biography of one of the most enigmatic figures of the nineteenth century, described by Verlaine as ‘the only true king of his century’. A man of wildly eccentric temperament and touched by a rare, imaginative genius, Ludwig II of Bavaria is remembered both for his patronage of Richard Wagner and for the fabulous palaces that he created as part of a dream-world to escape the responsibilities of state. In the realization of his fantasies, he created a ferment of creativity among artists and craftsmen, while his neglect of Bavaria’s political interests made powerful enemies among those critical of his self-indulgence and excesses. At the age of 40, declared insane in a plot to depose him, Ludwig died in mysterious circumstances. What truly happened on that fateful night has never been discovered.